Brand Values with Vaishali Shah

This is the first of a series of articles on elements of design by Vaishali Shah, founder of Creative ID, a graphic design and marketing consultancy.

Elements of Design

Whether you are an entrepreneur or an international organisation, there are certain elements of design to consider when developing your brand identity. In this article we focus on typography.

Reflect your Brand Tone

Typography is a unique form that your brand communication takes, which helps to set the tone and personality of your brand; the message and feeling you want to convey and be remembered by. It should therefore become part of your overall branding strategy.

Make your Brand Consistent

Using the same typeface and font in all forms of communication, (digital or print), gives it the kind of consistency that makes association with your brand easy for your clients.

It’s Instantly Recognisable

Clever use of shape and colour of a font, both in a logo and all other communication, helps to embed the brand in the client’s mind, conscious or sub-conscious.

It Reinforces Your Brand Values

Choose the typography that conveys your brand values; whether it has a fun and playful feel or a more conservative and reliable feel, it must create the right associations for your customers.

Creates the right context

A skilled designer will choose the font, layout, design theme and colour scheme that create the right context for your brand and which appeals to your target audience.

Learn from other brands

Whether it’s creative use of letters and spacing or an imaginative use of colour, or re-arranging or removing part of a letter, the power of typography to influence your target market cannot be underestimated. Examples of typographic logos that have become instantly recognisable include Cadbury’s, FedEx, Tesco, BBC and Harrods.